


Record Store Romance

by WriteMeToHell



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23465494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriteMeToHell/pseuds/WriteMeToHell
Summary: A gift fic for WritingToKeepMySanity (for tupenny's fic exchange)!!Sarah works at Larkin’s Records-New and Used. Katherine is a reporter for her school’s newspaper. Their first not-date doesn’t go exactly as planned.
Relationships: Sarah Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Record Store Romance

It took her a moment to realize the girl had come back. 

Sarah caught a glimpse of her between reshelving the New Age Jazz section and answering a call about donations (no, you couldn’t send in your Anderson Sisters collection if your cat peed on it). She looked about the same as she had two days ago, perky and upbeat with a high notched ponytail and a smile that could knock you dead on the spot. She wore the uniform Sarah had seen all the prep school kids wear; a white button down blouse with a maroon sweater and matching tartan skirt. It didn’t exactly gel well with Sarah’s own personal style, but it did give her a very good view of the girl’s smooth toned calves. She had admired them from a safe distance the first time the girl had come in the shop two days earlier. Sarah had been stuck on register duty, but that hadn’t stopped her from sneaking covert looks every once in a while as the girl browsed everything from the latest Sufjan Stevens vinyl to a Conway Twitty compilation album. The girl had eclectic taste, she’d give her that. But she had left without buying anything, which meant that all the clever lines Sarah had been rehearsing to say had gone to waste. Maybe that was for the best, she had told herself afterwards. Talking to pretty girls always got her tongue tied, and she carried that burden along with the added pressure of being one of the few out lesbians in her po-dunk town. Even coming off as slightly too friendly could be read as predatory by the wrong person, so she was constantly adjusting and re-adjusting her behavior to ensure no one felt uncomfortable around her. But how could she ever learn to flirt properly if she was never given the opportunity to practice?

Sarah honestly couldn’t even explain her attraction to this girl. She had always been a bit of a reverse snob, something she had inherited from her proud socialist of a father. On any other day she wouldn’t give a Pulitzer Academy kid a second thought, no matter how good they looked in plaid. That was mostly due to the school’s head of trustees, Joe Pulitzer, who had inherited the position from his father ten years earlier. The academy always stood in contrast to the small town it was situated in, always buying up new properties and finagling new ways to avoid paying taxes while covertly ignoring the fact the locals were growing more and more frustrated with them by the day. Its students hardly left its giant, gated building. Maybe that was why Sarah was so enticed with the girl. It was rare to see any Pulitzer student out in the wild, much less a pretty one. She mulled the thought over as she bent over a new crate of donations, trying to sort them alphabetically when she heard a set of footsteps heading towards the checkout counter. She slowly got up, rubbing the residue dust on her jeans. “Hang on, I’ll be with you in just a sec-” 

She stopped in her tracks when she saw who was standing by the register. Uniform girl turned around and gave her a shy grin. “Hi, I was wondering if we could talk for a bit.”

Sarah’s knees turned to putty and she could feel an odd heating sensation rise in her chest. She nodded numbly and somehow managed to make her way across the room without collapsing into a heap on the floor. She was nearing the counter when she noticed the girl didn’t have any merchandise. Rather, she was clutching a small pad of paper with a ballpoint pen clipped to its side. Sarah cleared her throat a few times before she spoke. “So, uh, do you need help finding anything, or…” 

“Oh! Uh, not exactly.” The girl clicked the top of the pen open and scribbled a few words down, her eyes looking intently down at the paper. “I was actually wondering if I could speak to the owner.”

“You mean Ms. Larkin? She’s away for the weekend, visiting her niece.” Sarah scrunched up her face slightly, trying not to look too disappointed. “I’ll be managing part time for the next two days.”

“That’s okay!” The girl blinked a few times, eyes still on the paper. “Would she be alright with you answering a few questions? About this place, I mean. It’s for my school paper, I'm doing an article about locally run businesses in the area.”

“Uh, sure. I should probably send her a text though, I don’t want to do anything behind her back.” 

“Right, of course.” The girl nodded fervently. Sarah cast her a quick look as she took her cell from her back pocket and shot Medda a quick text. A pair of ellipses appeared on the screen, shortly followed by an affirmation from her boss. Sarah tried to cool her excitement as she put her phone away.

“She says it’s fine, just as long as you make us look good.” 

“Perfect!” The girl paused, faltering slightly. “Do you think I could come by here tomorrow? I have a couple of other interviews lined up for this afternoon, I’m not sure if I can fit you in right now.”

“Oh, well, sure.” Sarah tried to hide her disappointment as best she could. “My shift starts tomorrow at three, could you stop by then?”

The girl shook her head. “No, I’m busy then too. Could we do earlier than that?”

Sarah paused for a moment. It was tempting to take a risk, but she was unsure if it was going to pay off the way she hoped it would. She took a deep breath before continuing. “I mean, technically I’ll be free before then, I just won’t be at work….” Her palms turned moist, and she could feel her temples pound against her skull. “My brother and his friend will be watching the store then. You don’t want to interview them, trust me, their taste in music sucks. Jack unironically listens to Korn.”

To her relief, the girl smiled. “So we’ll meet somewhere else. Would eleven be okay, I’m a bit of an early riser.”

Sarah exhaled and gave a shaky laugh. “Same here. Do you know where Jacoby’s is? It’s this cute Kosher bakery two blocks over, they have great lattes…”

“Oh, don’t worry, I know where it is.”

“You do?” Sarah had always assumed private school kids were from out of town. The girl gave one last nod before scratching a final note on her pad. “I grew up here. So, tomorrow at Jacoby’s? Eleven o’ clock?”

“Yeah. I mean, yes, of course! I’ll see you then!” Sarah was breathless, hardly believing her good luck. The girl made a move to turn towards the door but stopped. She groaned and playfully smacked herself on the head.

“I am so sorry, where are my manners? I’m Katherine.” She held out her hand and Sarah tentatively shook it.

“Sarah.” Her mouth all of a sudden felt unnaturally dry. Katherine looked up and for the first time Sarah could see her face in full. “It’s really nice to meet you Sarah. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

It was only after Katherine had left the store did the pounding in Sarah’s ear start to subside. She has brown eyes, Sarah thought. She had never noticed that before.

* * *

The midday sun was streaming through the cafe’s windows as Sarah took small, nervous sips from her wide rimmed latte cup. She nearly jumped in her seat when she heard the small bell attached to Jacoby’s door ring, quietly proclaiming that Katherine had arrived. She was out of her school uniform, wearing a loose floral sundress beneath a baggy jean jacket. Casual, but definitely still high quality. Sarah self consciously pressed the soles of her second hand Doc Martens against the lower corner of the booth. Katherine flung her messenger bag into the padded seat first before squeezing herself in as well. She gave Sarah a winning smile as she took out her cell and pressed the recording app button.

“Thanks for waiting for me!” She positioned the speaker towards Sarah as she ducked back into her bag. “Hope you don’t mind, I have a couple questions prepared, but I’m hoping to do most of this on the fly. You know, keep it as natural as possible.”

Sarah nodded and took another sip from her mug. “Sure, yeah, no problem.”

“Awesome.” Katherine gave another bright grin as she pulled out a pink spiral notebook. She fished a pen out of her messy bun, and a few tendrils fell with it. Sarah tried not to notice what a lovely effect it had on her face. 

“Alright, so- Larkin’s Records New and Used. How did that come to be? I feel like it’s always been part of the scenery, at least when I was growing up.”

“Well, after Medda, I mean Ms. Larkin stopped touring, she wanted to give back to her hometown. She grew up here, you know, just a few blocks down where the store is now, before Pulitzer Academy bought those apartment complexes. Oh, um, sorry…” Sarah didn’t want to come off as too strong. No matter how hard her feelings towards Pulitzer Academy were, she didn’t want Katherine to think any of that animosity was aimed at her. To her relief Katherine simply nodded and kept jotting down notes.

“It’s fine. I’m actually writing this article to convince my classmates to get out more. I feel like we’re completely separated from the rest of the town, it's ridiculous how closed off we are. And now there’s a new rumor going around that they’re thinking of expanding again, and I just thought…” Katherine trailed off and Sarah found herself uncomfortably looking down into her coffee. Katherine shook her head and brushed a few curls behind her ear before continuing. “I don’t know if this is gonna change people’s minds or not, but I don’t think it could hurt to try.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Sarah tried to sound as encouraging as possible. Katherine gave an appreciative smile and flipped to a new page in her notebook.

“So, uh, I know Ms. Larkin is mostly known for her R&B career back in the nineties, did the store originally cater to one genre of music, or was it always this diverse?”

Sarah shook her head. “No, Medda’s open to almost everything. She’s really big into music education, so it’s always important for her to keep a constant stack of the oldies in the back. Not that she doesn’t love Lizzo and Ariana Grande too. Just never try to buy an Elvis record in front of her, she’ll never let you leave the store.”

Katherine jotted a few notes down on the paper. “Why’s that?”

Sarah grinned slyly. “She’ll give you this  _ look _ , you know? And then she’ll make you sit down and listen to a full hour of Big Mama Thorton’s greatest hits or something like that.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, who?”

“You know that Elvis song, the one about the hound dog? She was the original singer. Her voice pretty much created rock and roll, but her record company screwed her over and she got no money from it. Then three years later Elvis got a hold of it so…” Sarah shrugged. “Music history, it’s depressing as hell.”

“But I guess it’s better than not knowing at all.” Katherine looked seriously down at her notebook. She paused for a moment as she trailed her index finger up and down the metal spiral. “So, what type of music do you listen to?”

“Oh.” Sarah was slightly taken aback by the question. “Well, uh, I guess I like all types. Working here definitely opened my mind to a lot of things. Medda introduced me to the Alabama Shakes last year, and that was mostly ‘cause she saw I was into Sleater-Kinney and Janelle Monae.”

“Wait, Janelle Monae?” Katherine’s face instantly brightened up. “I LOVE her! Dirty Computer got robbed at the Grammys last year!”

Sarah threw up her hands in agreement. “Tell me about it! It was her best album yet! I didn’t think anything could top Electric Lady, but she blew me away with this one. And I’ve probably watched her music videos like, a million times.” 

“Same!” Katherine nodded vigorously. “She and Tessa Thompson are so dreamy together.”

Sarah froze in surprise. Did Katherine just say what she thought she said? Usually she was the one to bring up anything queer related, and even then she was extremely cautious about how she phrased it. She didn’t want to make any assumptions about Katherine’s sexuality, she had been let down too many times in the past. But if Katherine was the one that was mentioning it… Sarah decided to cautiously probe further.

“You know, one of the best things about working in Medda’s store is how accepting everyone is. She was actually the first person I came out to, even before my brothers or my parents. She just gave me a big hug and made me listen to this ancient Bessie Smith record.” Katherine looked at her in surprise and Sarah felt her face flush. She quickly looked down and started to trace the rim around her coffee again. “She’s this jazz singer from like a hundred years ago. There was a movie about her on HBO.” 

“That’s really nice. I-” Katherine’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I wish I could’ve had something like that.”

Sarah leaned back and drank deeply from her cup. This was not how she was expecting the morning to go. Katherine watched her intensely with those big brown eyes of hers. She gave a quick look over towards the counter where Mr. Jacoby was showing the new barista the proper method for steaming oat milk. She cleared her throat before looking back at Sarah. “Hope you don’t mind, I’ve already had my morning coffee, but I’ll probably sneak a danish on the way out. I’ve been obsessed with Jacoby’s baking since I was a kid.”

“Since you were a kid?” Sarah tried not to sound too surprised. “How come I’ve never seen you around before, my family stops in here all the time.”

Katherine shrugged. “I mean, you probably have, but I’ve never spent enough time here to get to know anyone very well. I went to a Montessori School that was about forty five minutes away for elementary school, and then I started at Pulitzer Academy in the sixth grade. It’s very… isolated over there.”

Sarah snorted into her coffee. “You don’t have to say that twice. I took a tour there a couple of years ago. The size of that gate was insane, I have no idea how people can be cooped up like that without going batshit.”

Katherine was now doodling miniature flowers into the margins of the paper. “Oh, trust me, we do go batshit. In one way or another.” She looked back at Sarah. “Why were you visiting the campus?”

Sarah paused for a moment, wondering if she should disclose something so personal with a girl she hardly knew. “I… actually got an academic scholarship to go there. I was supposed to start in the ninth grade. But, uh, the scholarship didn’t cover food or uniforms, plus I’d have to stay on campus which would be even more money and kinda pointless since my family lives in town so…” She trailed off, trying to gauge Katherine’s expression. 

She remained silent for a moment. “I’m sorry, that must’ve been really tough.”

Sarah shrugged. “The public school isn’t too bad here. Honestly I feel worse for my brother. He’s even better at school than I am, but after all the crap I went through the year before, he didn’t even bother to apply. Which is too bad, I think he would have benefited from it more than me. Kid’s too curious for his own good sometimes.” She gave a shaky laugh. 

Katherine looked shocked. “I had no idea that was going on. I mean, that’s ridiculous, I don’t pay full tuition ‘cause my family works there. In my opinion any kid who lives in the area should just go for free, at least for high school. We have way too many resources to just be hoarded like that.”

Sarah snorted and leaned back in her seat. “Yeah, wouldn’t that be nice. Tell that to the head of trustees next time you see him.”

Katherine awkwardly readjusted herself in her seat. “Well, you never know. He might be willing to listen if you give him the chance.”

“Doubt it.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “God, Joe Pulitzer.” She practically spat out the name. “What a pig. Swear to God, the moment he took over as head trustee this whole town turned to shit. First the school doesn’t have to pay taxes, then he wants to buy up as much property as he can! It’s insane, he probably wants to keep the whole town for himself and kick the rest of us out.” She brushed her hair back and shook her head. “It sucks your parents have to deal with him. What do they do for the school? Are they teachers?”

“Oh. Well. Um.” Katherine shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Uh, Sarah, my parents aren’t teachers.”

“Oh.” Sarah leaned in curiously. “Do they do administration work?”

“No, uh…” Katherine’s face had gone red and she kept on shooting nervous looks towards the door. Sarah could feel a sinking sensation in her stomach. The last thing she wanted was to make Katherine feel uncomfortable. But she wasn’t exactly sure if she had said anything wrong. 

Katherine’s mouth was now pressed into a firm line. “Listen, I’ve got other interviews to get to, but uh, I want to be personally honest with you. My mom does a lot of fundraising for the school, but it’s not exactly a paid job, more like volunteering.”

“Oh, that’s nice. And your dad?” 

“He’s head trustee.”

Sarah’s eyes shot open to the size of saucers. Katherine turned off the recording button and began to fiddle with the sides of her phone. “My grandfather is the founder of the school, so, uh, that’s what I meant when I said I grew up here.”

Sarah could feel all the blood drain from her face. “So, your dad is….”

Katherine began to put her notebook back in her bag. “I should get going.”

“No, Katherine, wait!” The guilt panged through Sarah like a gong. Katherine scooted her way out of the booth before she could get another word in. Her head was ducked low.

“It was really nice meeting you Sarah. I’ll let you know when the article is published.” She gave one look back before she sped up past the counter and pushed past the door, the bell giving a hollow ring to announce her departure. 

“Wait, I’m…. sorry.” The apology came out pathetic and small. Sarah remained paralyzed in the booth, staying there for the rest of the morning and staring miserably down at her coffee as it grew cold. It was only when the sun started to hit her in the eye did she slide self consciously out of her seat and made her own way out the door.

* * *

“And you haven’t heard from her since?” Davey gave his sister a sympathetic look as he flipped the hanging sign at the front of the store from ‘open’ to ‘closed’. The final customers had been shuttled out of the store, which meant the only thing left to do was to go through the last of the day’s donations. Davey propped the door open with his sneaker so Jack could squeeze through with the final box. Sarah gazed morosely into the distance as he locked the door behind him.

“It’s been two days, and so far nothing. I’m such an idiot, I should’ve at least given her my phone number before she left.”

“You didn’t even get her number?” Jack gave her an incredulous look as he placed the box on the counter with the others. “I thought that’s the first thing you do before you go on a date.”

“I told you, it wasn’t a date.” Sarah half halfheartedly tossed an old cleaning rag at him. “It was two people having coffee under completely non romantic circumstances. And it was less than fifteen minutes. God knows how I managed to screw that up.”

“You really can’t put all the blame on yourself. The whole point of the article was to criticize her school. What you said makes perfect sense. If anything, she should’ve been more upfront about her family. You were honest, she wasn’t.” Davey dug his hand into a random box and awkwardly shoved a CD into Sarah’s unyielding hands. “Look, Dolly Parton. That’s a good sign. What does she always say, ‘you can’t have the rainbow without the rain?’”

Sarah glanced down at Dolly’s megawatt grin. She appreciated her brother’s effort, but she really wasn’t in the mood to be cheered up right now. She’d need at least another twenty four hours to properly marinate in her misery before moving on. Maybe she could order Chinese tonight and make the boys watch Moonstruck with her. If she was going to be heartbroken she might as well make the most out of it.

“Hey, maybe you can get her to come back again!” Jack was now sitting crossed legged on the floor, sorting the contents of a nearby crate by genre. “Send her school paper an email. Say Medda wants to have an interview in person before the article goes out. She comes in, then bam! You swoop her into your arms and she instantly forgives you!”

“See, that? That is the opposite of what I’m going to do. That is completely creepy.” Sarah sighed as she slid her back against the counter, landing in a kneeling position and hugging her knees to her chest. “I’m okay with the fact I’ll probably never see her again. There’ll be other girls to have fourteen minute coffee dates with.”

Jack looked up triumphantly. “So it was a date!”

Sarah brandished the Dolly CD threateningly. “Jack, swear to God, you’re gonna have a dent in your head by the end of the night if you don’t quit it.”

“Alright, fine, fine. I’m backing off.” He waved the rag in the air like a surrender flag. His eyes trailed over the line of boxes before him, and his face brightened again as he lingered on one at the very end. He picked it up and gently shoved it against Sarah’s boots. “Hey, you’re a fan of Janelle Monae, right?”

“Who isn’t?” Sarah muttered into her knees. 

“Well this thing’s full of ‘em. Maybe Medda will let you keep some of it before we put it out into the market.”

Sarah blinked a few times and peeked cautiously into the containments of the box. Her breath faltered for a moment, and then her heart began to pound at a rapid pace, causing her hands to shake as she clutched the top album with a sweaty palm. It was Dirty Computer on vinyl, the plastic still on, and a pink sticky note stuck right on the chin of Janelle’s perfect face.

_ No hard feelings, you still owe me a coffee ;) - Katherine P. _

On the back was a phone number. A shadow descended over Sarah’s shoulder as she continued to stare dumbfounded. Not even the sound of Jack’s voice could make her look away. 

“So, anything worth keeping?”

“Oh yeah.” Sarah gripped the sides of the album tightly as a small grin started to spread across her face. She peeled off the sticky note and stuck it into her jean pocket. “This is something I’m not gonna let go of again.”


End file.
